Insider 15 November 2011

.Mumbai, India: Lead clown Biju poses before a show at the Rambo circus [Vivek Prakash/Reuters]

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I managed to sleep thru 60 Minutes, I had planned to catch it to see just how badly La Nan did when queried about her conflict of interest investments… but moiv happened to pop me this:

(CBS News)

Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information – but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it’s time for the law to change.

The following is a script of “Insiders” which aired on Nov. 13, 2011. Steve Kroft is correspondent, Ira Rosen and Gabrielle Schonder, producers.

The next national election is now less than a year away and congressmen and senators are expending much of their time and their energy raising the millions of dollars in campaign funds they’ll need just to hold onto a job that pays $174,000 a year.

Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige, and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country, don’t always apply to them.

Most former congressmen and senators manage to leave Washington – if they ever leave Washington – with more money in their pockets than they had when they arrived, and as you are about to see, the biggest challenge is often avoiding temptation.

Peter Schweizer: This is a venture opportunity. This is an opportunity to leverage your position in public service and use that position to enrich yourself, your friends, and your family.

Peter Schweizer is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. A year ago he began working on a book about soft corruption in Washington with a team of eight student researchers, who reviewed financial disclosure records. It became a jumping off point for our own story, and we have independently verified the material we’ve used.

I find it all especially hilarious, aside from enraging, as the description of the Pelosi family that is in fact used and does fit what they do for cash flow:

Investor Class Family.

And how.

They also profiled Gregg, Hastert, Boehner, Bachus and others – all dirty as hell as I see it… so, they spread the joy.

The former Speaker did about as well (badly, that is) as she ever does:

And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs. One of those came in 2008, from Visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies, began making its way through the House. Undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest the Pelosis purchased 5,000 shares of Visa at the initial price of $44 dollars. Two days later it was trading at $64. The credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the House.

Congresswoman Pelosi also declined our request for an interview, but agreed to call on us if we attended a news conference.

Kroft: Madam Leader, I wanted to ask you why you and your husband back in March of 2008 accepted and participated in a very large IPO deal from Visa at a time there was major legislation affecting the credit card companies making its way through the– through the House.

Nancy Pelosi: But–

Kroft: And did you consider that to be a conflict of interest?

Pelosi: The– y– I– I don’t know what your point is of your question. Is there some point that you want to make with that?

Kroft: Well, I– I– I guess what I’m asking is do you think it’s all right for a speaker to accept a very preferential, favorable stock deal?

Pelosi: Well, we didn’t.

Kroft: You participated in the IPO. And at the time you were speaker of the House. You don’t think it was a conflict of interest or had the appearance–

Pelosi: No, it was not–

Kroft: –of a conflict of interest?

Pelosi: –it doesn’t– it only has appearance if you decide that you’re going to have– elaborate on a false premise. But it– it– it’s not true and that’s that.

Kroft: I don’t understand what part’s not true.

Pelosi: Yes sir. That– that I would act upon an investment.

Congresswoman Pelosi pointed out that the tough credit card legislation eventually passed, but it was two years later and was initiated in the Senate.

Pelosi: I will hold my record in terms of fighting the credit card companies as speaker of the House or as a member of Congress up against anyone.

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The NYPC has moved in on Zuccotti Park, thanks to diane, these comments of hers drawing on the NYT time line and other links (carried forward from previous thread):

Eviction of Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square Underway
Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park), home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and around the world, is presently being evicted by a large police force.

EVERYONE should get to the park immediately for eviction defense! Subway stations and bridges are closed. Please either take a cab or use Canal St. subway station (which is currently open.) . . . . .

yeah it sucks….I guess there’s some hearing at 1130 e.s.t….such fools, if they’re successful at stopping the occupation (doubtful, the occupiers have demonstrated they are smart and ddetermined) the next thing down the pipe is not going to be non-violent

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality.

Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters.

At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people’s rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety.

The Tucson Occupation keeps on taking lickings, but also keeps on ticking:

More than two dozen participants of Occupy Tucson left their campground at Veinte de Agosto Park Monday to descend on Pima County Superior Court, where foreclosed homes were being auctioned off.

The chanting and sign-waving demonstration came just hours after the protesters staved off a judge’s order that would have prevented them from returning to the park once they’ve been cited by police.

In a related development, City Councilwoman Regina Romero announced she will ask the council to order the police to stop citing protesters for violating the park curfew and to direct the Parks Department to waive the curfew and any park-use permit fees. The council will hold a closed meeting on the request today.

Since the protest started a month ago, police have issued more than 500 park-curfew citations, including 41 over the three-day Veterans Day weekend.

The mayors and police are mistaken if they think scattering the “troublemakers” will help. All it will do is spread the discontent.

In the Nineties, a great many people were being fucked by banks, too. But they were being worked to death at their shitty jobs and didn’t have a lot of idle time to think about how really angry they should be at the 1% fucking them.

Now these people don’t have jobs to go to, and they have a lot of free time and energy to cultivate rage.

I don’t think Bloomie & Friends and their wannabees in other cities are going to have the last laugh here, but I could be wrong…

There was a member of SF Occupy who identified himself as a long time volunteer at one of the bigger Protestant (perhaps Episcopalian who are fairly active here, after the fucking Cahtolics) assstance groups for at stress families and assorted.

he mentioned in an interview there is no longer anything to refer people to for help. SO many programs are simply gone.

INSIDE THE RESTRAINING ORDER PROTESTERS GOT ALLOWING THEM BACK INTO THE PARK:

FROM OUR REPORTERS BARBARA ROSS AND TRACY CONNOR

When the cops raided Zuccotti Park, lawyers for Occupy Wall Street immediately woke up a judge with a civil liberties background and asked for help. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings signed an early-morning order temporarily barring cops from keeping protesters and tents out of Zuccotti Park.

WHO IS JUSTICE LUCY BILLINGS?

But within hours, she was off the case as court administrators prepared to randomly choose a new judge — and excluded Billings’ name from the list of candidates.

Billings’ biography notes that before she became a judge in 1997, she spent 25 years as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. “I have devoted my career to public service, especially the disadvantaged in desperate circumstances,” she wrote in a 2007 pre-election statement.

Lawyers for Occupy Wall Street phoned Billings after cops moved into Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicted the protesters and got rid of their tents and other camp equipment. Asked why they called her first, protest lawyer Daniel Alterman wouldn’t say, remarking that he’s not a “gossip guy.” The lawyers also called an emergency hotline set up to assign judges to after-hours cases

A staffer told them that since Billings had already been contacted, she should handle the Zuccotti matter. He said Billings came to the lawyers and at 6:30 a.m. signed an order declaring cops cannot evict protesters who aren’t breaking the law or stop protesters from entering with tents. Billings’ involvement will be short-lived.

At 11:30 a.m., court officials were scheduled to use a computer program to pick a new judge for an afternoon hearing on the restraining order — the proceeding that will determine if the tents can be erected again. Billings’ name will not be included because she usually handles real estate cases, court officials

Yeah. They could permanently close the campsite(s), with enough legal wiggling and dancing.

But they should ask themselves what happens when you pick up a dandelion gone to seed and blow on it. Because that’s pretty much what they’ve done.

Portland Indymedia had a couple of people a few weeks back proposing mass “move-ins” on foreclosed and abandoned properties in areas of the city that the banks essentially emptied and left to rot.

I’m wondering if that might be the next phase. Ideally, there would be both encampments and “move-ins” because there’s just no way that LE can smother both sets of actions at once. Unless they had the National Guard along for the ride, perhaps.

This Weeks Occupy Evictions Were Systematically Plotted By The Nations Mayors

Linette Lopez and Robert Johnson | Nov. 15, 2011, 12:57 PM | 2 |

Conspiracy theorists are going to love this one. In an interview with the BBC, Mayor Quan admitted that she discussed dismantling Occupy Oakland with Mayors from 18 other cities.

That explains why the crackdown on Occupations seems to have happened all at once — in Oakland, in Portland, and in NYC, to name a few.
You can listen to the clip around 5:30 here, on The Takeaway (they have a partnership with the BBC). Or you can just read what Quan said below:

“I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation where what had started as a political movement and a political encampment ended up being an encampment that was no longer in control of the people who started them. And what I think you’re starting to see is that the Occupy movement is now looking for more stability. There’s been a lot of… talking to peaceful demonstrators…who wanted to separate themselves from anarchists…They’re now looking for a private space where they can go to do community organizing around the issues that started the movement, so I think you’re going to find that…the encampments are going to try to move to place where they’re not in direct conflict with the public…

Quan then mentioned that NYC’s Occupation is in a private park, so it isn’t infringing on the public’s right to use a public park.

[T]he spectacle of police beating and brutalising unarmed civilians for the crime of sitting on the pavement and demanding a fairer world brings home the point of the struggle to public and protesters alike. The second is galvanising: attacks on peaceful protesters rarely make the police or government look anything but weak and cowardly, and have tended only to increase public support for civil disobedience.

The Observer stayed up all night watching the NYPD’s raid on Zuccotti Park and witnessed several instances of credentialed reporters being barred from getting within viewing distance of the scene as the protesters were evicted. According to Mayor Bloomberg, police kept reporters from getting close to the park to keep them safe.

During the more than six hours we spent at the raid last night, The Observer was unable to get closer than two blocks away from the protest. We assumed this was due to our lack of an official NYPD press badge, however, we also saw credentialed reporters from CNBC, CBS, the Wall Street Journal, NBC, The New York Times, Reuters and a Japanese TV station get blocked at the barricades. . . . . .

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In other news, reports of a shooting, someone shot, inside the Haas School for Business at Cal Berkeley. No doubt they will try to blame it on the Occupiers a ways away at Sproul Plaza. (Last I heard about 2000 there in the Plaza):lol:

now that the regents cancelled, there will be a mass march from SFSU to the SF financial district by UCD and CSU students/faculty/staff, plus the nurses, teachers and other assorted unions. they’re calling it “the people’s regents.” should be fun.

The NY Daily News, believe it or not, has had a good live blog running all day, including posts, pics and video from inside the police bus by one of their arrested reporters, Matthew Lysiak. Look for his posts prior to 11 AM.

Oh that is excellent, thnks so much. I’ve never minded NYDN… it is what it is and at tmes lots of good reporting. Hell, NY Post has its uses too…

People may not know this but we have barely any actual newspaper reporting here. Next to no political reporting. Hell the two papers in Las Vegas look like steaming piles of gold to me… as an example. Frankly depending on the story, the type of story, the Bees and the odd news TV channel (which sometims is the local FOX affiliate even) do the best.

We are in lockdown mostly. A machine town. And whatever the San Jose Mercury once was, it no longer is. The Chron/SF Gate always was a joke and, strangely, the Examiner here in SF was just sold. Golly. Amazing. I don’t even think they charge for it anymore.

I waited, and when nobody was looking, I crossed back over as confidently as I could and entered a scrum of suit-wearing police brass and cleanup workers scrubbing the park’s sidewalk. Nobody bothered to stop me as I strode up to the park’s northern entrance and stopped against a wall, a few yards from where police in helmets surrounded the the remaining occupiers.

Next to me, an officer was telling an important-looking guy named Eddie about “the intel we’ve had over the past couple of months” about “the severely mentally retarded, the ones that are real fucked up in the head, and have been violent in the past.” He went on: “They are a little off kilter. They’re off their meds. They haven’t had meds in 30 days.”

“I’m only 24 hours off mine,” Eddie joked.

“It’s good for you, Eddie,” the cop said. “You’ve got to come clean every once in a while.”

As the two men talked, a sweaty-faced man wearing a neon vest over a business suit walked up and started tearing protest signs off the wall.”I couldn’t wait,” he said. “Destroying things never felt so good.”

“Really,” someone said, almost inflecting the word as a question.

“They’re fucking assholes,” the guy in the suit shot back.

Another guy came up to Eddie. “How are we about hooking up the fire hydrants?” he asked. “We talkin’ to somebody?”

OWS protesters attempted to reestablish food service in Zuccotti park this evening, but were told to leave by police. “Uniformed officers told us to leave with the food or they would throw it out, said Erica Williams of the OWS kitchen staff.

A group of protesters walked out of the park around 6:45pm carrying trays of baked ziti, a blue garbage bag full of bread, buckets of mashed potatoes and other food to the corner of Liberty and Broadway, where they began serving.

“Set up shop ’til they make us move and then we’ll move again,” said OWS protester Eric Smith.

Within 15 minutes, police arrived on the corner and told the protesters to shut the food service down.

“They can’t serve food here, it’s private property,” said Lt. Kenny, who wouldn’t give his first name but confirmed that protesters can no longer cook or serve food in the park.

Marlisa Wise, 24, who works with the OWS food service said she would continue to feed protestors regardless of the prohibition. “We’re here to feed the movement, Wise said.

This Week’s Occupy Evictions Were Systematically Plotted By The Nations Mayors

Conspiracy theorists are going to love this one. In an interview with the BBC, Mayor Quan admitted that she discussed dismantling Occupy Oakland with Mayors from 18 other cities.

That explains why the crackdown on Occupations seems to have happened all at once — in Oakland, in Portland, and in NYC, to name a few.

You can listen to the clip around 5:30 here, on The Takeaway (they have a partnership with the BBC). Or you can just read what Quan said below:

“I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation where what had started as a political movement and a political encampment ended up being an encampment that was no longer in control of the people who started them…

The Mario Savio Memorial Lecture and Young Activist Award Board of Directors and Robert Reich, the scheduled lecture speaker, have been asked by the Occupy Cal General Assembly to transfer the event to the Mario Savio Steps in Sproul Plaza at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, instead of holding it inside Pauley Ballroom. This is in protest against the use of excessive police force against non-
violent demonstrators who were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech in a symbolic encampment. Although we recognize that this change of venue may pose a physical hardship for some of the attendees, it was unanimously agreed that we would be violating our mission statement (see below) to reject the request. Depending on the exact circumstances at the time, a somewhat shortened presentation of the Young Activist Award will be held, and the award winners will speak.

The following efforts are being made to ensure people’s comfort and safety as far as possible.

1 – The students are planning to erect a few tents on the grass in front of one side of Sproul Hall at 6 p.m. Based on past experience, they believe the police will either seize the tents pretty
immediately or wait until late at night. In other words, a confrontation is very unlikely to occur during the period of the lecture, especially with a large number of people in the Plaza.

2 – Professor Reich is likely to start speaking at 8:40, not earlier. This will be preceded by the Young Activist Award speakers.

3 – the students intend to set up an area with chairs for those in need. If you can sit low down and still get up, please bring a cushion or a low beach chair. All of the rest of the audience will also be asked to sit on the ground so as not to block the view..

3- Dress warmly. Rain is not expected. The temperature is likely to be in the low 50s.

4 – There will be amplification.

Please do not attend if you feel the circumstances would be too difficult for you. We also want you to be aware that it is possible (though the students feel it is unlikely), that if the tents are taken down earlier, the
atmosphere might remain too charged and too chaotic for the lecture to be held.

If you contributed to the Lecture fund in order to secure seats in the reserved section, you may choose between having your donation refunded or letting us keep it and receiving a CD of the lecture, if one can be made.

We apologize for your inconvenience and disappointment, but, as Mario Savio said: There comes a time…

Thank you for your interest and your support.

Lynne Hollander Savio and the Board of the MSML&YAA

Mission Statement: To honor the memory of Mario Savio and the spirit of moral courage and vision which he and countless other activists of his generation exemplified;

To promote the values that Mario Savio struggled to advance throughout his life: human rights, social justice, and freedom of expression;

To provide a forum where young people can connect with older activists to understand their common ideals and find inspiration and nourishment for activism today;

To recognize and encourage young activists engaged in the struggle to build a more humane and just society.

To recognize and encourage young activists engaged in the struggle to build a more humane

So.

Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing has been released on a $1 million bail after pleading not guilty to the murder of Sam DuBose. Tensing, who is white, fatally shot the 43-year-old African-American man on July 19 after stopping him for not having a front license plate. Two additional officers, Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt, hav […]

As the Senate prepares to vote to defund Planned Parenthood, we look at the Center for Medical Progress, the anti-choice group behind the attacks on Planned Parenthood. The group was founded by David Daleiden who is seen in the undercover sting videos using a fictional name. We speak to RH Reality Check's Sharona Coutts, who wrote the piece, "Exclu […]

The Senate is planning to vote as soon as Monday to strip Planned Parenthood of $500 million in federal funding. The vote comes as Planned Parenthood is coming under fire from anti-choice activists after the release of a series of undercover sting videos were published online. The heavily edited videos suggest the organization profits from supplying aborted […]

In Portland, Oregon, law enforcement officers have removed Greenpeace activists who spent 40 hours suspended from the St. Johns Bridge in order to block an icebreaking ship commissioned by oil giant Shell from leaving for the Arctic. Hundreds of activists have been gathering on the bridge and in kayaks since Tuesday night in efforts to stop Shell's plan […]

On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Drake, a former Senior Executive at the National Security Agency, says he was targeted by the NSA because he exposed that the agency had intel that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks and because he blew the whistle on a massive secret surveillance program aimed at Americans

James K. Gailbraith says, IMF is demanding a substantial reduction of the Greek debt to participate in any new deal and meanwhile German law makers are refusing to approve a new bail-out without the IMF

James K. Galbraith a member of the working group advising the former finance minister Varoufakis on 'Plan B' says there were great impositions imposed on the Greek government including certain procedures that removed control from the government and placed them in the hands of creditor institutions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said it will launch the first ever rule on Monday to cut carbon emissions from power plants, a plan that opponents in the coal industry and their political allies will fight in the courts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump, the man to beat in this week's first televised Republican presidential debate, said on Sunday he does not plan to attack his rivals and downplayed expectations for his performance, saying "I'm not a debater."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. backers of the Iran nuclear deal are increasingly confident of enough Democratic support to ensure it survives review by Congress, despite fierce opposition by majority Republicans and a massive lobbying drive.

Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.